Kyle Dubas - President of Hockey Operations and General Manager - August 7th, 2023

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We had Jake Genzl last Wednesday undergosurgery on his ankle, So just to
provide more background on that. Obviously, he ended the year with an injury,
and then the way that we hadhandled it in collaboration with Jake and
the medical team, was to continueto monitor it. Obviously he continued to
skate and train on it. Butfrom from our view, I'm thinking with

(00:21):
Jake and the team's best interest,we didn't want it to linger into the
year, and so when it wasn'thealing the way that it was supposed to,
doctor Vus and Chris Stewart, incollaboration with Jake and the people on
the ground in Minnesota, was givena very specific methodology to go through it,
including trying it in some game actionin the league there that that Ben
Hankinson runs the Beauty League, andUM, it just wasn't comfortable enough for

(00:45):
him as he was getting up tothe prescribed levels. So at that point
was decided that we would have thesurgical solution performed and that'll get Jake back
up to one hundred percent and jakebest interest and it's best for the team
to have Jake at one so we'llmiss them. UM for the first couple

(01:06):
games of the year, but thenhe'll be back to the Jake we know,
which I think is the best solutionfor all of us. UM.
Obviously, yeah, yesterday, UMwe're able to complete a three team trade.
UM. First off, I justwant to thank um Casey to Smith.
He's he's been here the longest,good story and great journey for Casey

(01:29):
from the ECHL through to being anNHL regular with with the Penguins. Um
he goes to Montreal, UM,Jeff Petrie, UM also goes to Montreal,
Michael Grantland and uh In jan Rudato San Jose, and Nathan lagarret
to to Montreal as well. Sojust thank thank all of them for their
contributions to the team. Never easyto call players and especially this late in

(01:52):
the summer when they have children andfamilies and let them know that they've been
moved on. UM. But allthough I didn't have a deep history with
any of them, UM, youknow, all all by all accounts pre
contributing members of the team here anduh and good people. So UM it
was a fairly lengthy process. UM. With San Jose. UM that goes

(02:16):
back to my previous place of employment. And so my career was was great
to deal with. Throughout UM,They're obviously accomplished their goal of gaining draft
choices and greater flexibilities. They gothrough turning their their team to to where
Mike's vision wants to bring it UMand then Montreal and Kent Hughes came in
at the end, and I thinkthis move helps them and acquire more assets

(02:40):
and um that they can either keepor move and draft capital as well.
So and with us, obviously itgains us the flexibility that we wanted,
but also brings Eric into the mixhere. UM. The reason why we
wanted to bring Eric in was,I think when going through our team one
of the things that I had feltand talking with Sully about it, as

(03:00):
we needed to continually improve our abilityto move the puck from our own zone.
Eric, I think is one ofthe elite players in that regard in
the NHL. Even though he's inhis in his early thirties, he continues
to be one of the top skatersin the NHL, and obviously his production
and offense is quite prolific. Sovery competitive, very motivated person wants to

(03:23):
come in here and help our team, think for us, adding someone like
that to the group, as weyou know, attempt to give it every
chance to win, but also keepour eye towards the future. We were
happy not to include any of ourour prospects own Pickering, Brandy Jaeger in
the trade as well to have themcan move along. So that was what
we're looking to accomplish. That's theway that we went about it, and

(03:46):
with that, I'll open it upto any questions anybody may have. Would
you expect this to be the groupyou have going into campbould you anticipate for
the move I don't expect anything moremajorum, But you can never make any
promises. I think we always wantto try to improve the team, Taylor.
But um, I would say,now you know, we're six weeks

(04:10):
out from camp starting on Wednesday,five weeks out suddenly from prospect to showcase
in Buffalo, I think this willbe the group, you know, with
with grantland m going out and twodefensemen going out. I do think,
you know, there's we've kind offelt in the last twenty four hours just
kind of a you know, ofthe remaining free agents in terms of whether

(04:32):
there's guys we want to sign onor even professional tryouts that think this could
be a great, great spot forthem to come in. So we're sorting
through that. I think would ifif there's anything, it'll be more in
that that vein than anything. Bigthanks for doing this, Klum. How
long? How much of the regularseason do you project Cancel to miss and

(04:55):
do you foresee trying to replace himinternally or will you move aggressively for someone
from the outside. Um, well, I think we would get a little
bit fortunate there. Unfortunate in onecase because Jake is projected to miss.
You know, I think it's lateOctober early November, and we don't we
don't have a lot of games inthat early stretch. We got three the

(05:15):
first week, then just two thesecond week of the season, so I
think it's in that third or fourthweek of the season where he's projected to
be reevaluated and then a decision willbe made. So I think it could.
You know, we're hopeful it goeswell, of course, but we
want to make sure he's one hundredpercent right a roll when he comes back.
So I would say between you know, around five games is what's kind
of the projected number. But it'smedical, so you never want to put

(05:40):
a lock on that because we haveto always do what's right for him.
When it comes to replacing him,I don't think there are many he's There
are no ready made replacements for Jake. He's a He's one of the better
wingers in the NHL and certainly hasa great chemistry with Sid whom you know
they've had, They've had great successtogether. That's that. I think one
of the fortunate parts is that itcreates a major opportunity for our own young

(06:04):
people that are here, whether that'sAlex Nilander, Samuel Poulin. But also,
I think more importantly that was oneof the things we tried to address
in free agency and to um youknow, whether it's Finnie Hinnis Strozza Andrea
Jansen, rampit like who we acquiredyesterday with Eric he came over from Montreal,
um Zahorna Poston and Coppen and NetoO'Connor, all those guys that have

(06:29):
been wanting their own opportunity and chanceto go and get it. And now
you know, the knock is thereat the door. Someone has to answer.
And I think that's the one thingwe're looking forward to in training camp.
The most is you know there's there'sgoing to be an opening, that
there's going to be opportunity. Weknow we have our own guys that can
slide there and do that. Riquelisplayed with Sid before. I think Riley
Smith can play with Sid. Butyou know, there's there's all those other

(06:54):
people that we we brought in totry to improve our depth, certainly on
the wings in free agency. Thatnow is you know, it's kind of
it's this is the opportunity we've waitedfor all this time. You know you've
got six weeks to put yourself inthe best spot to take advantage of it.
And I'm just excited to see whocomes in and takes it. God,
this is sort of a two partterabout how you eventually got this across

(07:15):
the goal line, the first partof which ties the gensl aspect into it.
Was there anything that after Jake gothurt, you felt Okay, we're
going to do it now, wheremaybe we didn't you weren't ready to do
it before. Sure, that wouldbe the first part, And then the
second part is I'm going to tellus how the Petree to Montreal element came
into play there. Because I wasa little bit surprising to see him go
back to the Canadians after he camefrom there in the first place. Yeah,

(07:39):
So the first part with Jake isthat with him being out not long
enough to be on LTI R,it's sort of you know, it would
have created at the beginning of theyear, he's obviously we need to have
the room to have him on theroster, but also have other space.
So we knew that, you know, this all kind of happened with O'Connor's
arbitration settling last week, so it'dopen up that other bio window and we
knew, Okay, if we're goingto gain some flex ability, we kind

(08:01):
of have until Sunday at noon todo it. So it sort of placed
a deadline on it, which Ithink was a positive thing for us.
Really not the ever want to getto that point. I think my my
stance on biots has been made clear. I don't have a strong dislike for
them, just because they sit onthe cap for double the amount of time,
and you know, even if theymake a great deal of short term
sense, it comes to comes tohurt you in the long run. So

(08:22):
we knew we had that kind oftimeline there at and that's how the Jake
and the O'Connor settlement both kind ofcollided and made Sunday at noon the deadline
because that's when we would have hadto put somebody on unconditional waivers for buyout.
With regards to Montreal and Jeff,I think it's it's you know,
Kent, it's probably best to answerthe actual fit in terms of the team.

(08:43):
And in that situation, I thinkwith their goals are you know,
we're very clear they and I was, I was, I was really impressed
with Kent. I always haven't hada long relationship with him when he was
on the agent side. He's hada lot of players come through here,
but just the way he was veryclear and concise in what he was looking
to do, uh in terms ofacquiring assets to be in the middle,

(09:05):
use his flexibility right now, usewhat he has to try to accelerate where
they're at in their own um,in their own development, and acquire picks
and and good in an opportunity whereyou have to acquire pick and a really
good player to fail help a teamfacilitate something else. So that's how that
came to be. And UM creditto to Kent for jumping in to clarify

(09:26):
Montreal was initially a green light putreto go to or did you have to
like talk? Was he was Montreal? The no trade? No, there
wasn't he was. We didn't haveto there was no there was nothing to
do with the no trade on it. Yeah, Hey Kyle, how are
you? Um Uh? I thinkI might have too, but maybe not
for what is the message you wantthis team to take from acquiring an impact

(09:50):
player like Carlson? Well, Idon't. I don't even know if the
team, because of the leadership,was sid and and Sully need anymore messaging.
I think it's just the affirmation thatwe believe that they have a chance
to contend and compete for a championship. And there's a lot of work that
has to be done. Obviously,the team missed the playoffs last year.

(10:13):
There's no dancing around it. Butwe tried to supplement as best we can.
And I know that there'll be lotsof people that doubt the group,
and rightfully so. I mean wehave to go out and prove it starting
in the first day of training campin building to where we want to get
to. Um So, I thinkthe doubts are fair. I think the
criticisms are fair. We have ourbelief and then it's about us to go
out and execute it. And that'son me to lead the way and get

(10:35):
the group and the coaching staff andthe players what I think they need.
So it was a unique opportunity toadd a player like Ericum where you know,
obviously we had to part with somesome assets, but we gained more
flexibility and added him on at thesame time. And I think that was
the message is clear as that youknow he's he's still an elite player,

(10:56):
as he showed last year winning theNorris Trophy. We have a chance at
him. We're going to do itbecause we believe in the group. Kyle,
Now, with this trade, doyou have two of the better offensive
defensemen of their generation? And Chrisletangan Eric Carlson. This first part might
be more of a question for MikeSullivan once we get the training camp,
but there's only so many minutes foreverybody to go around. Just how might

(11:18):
that look in terms of their deploymentand then just in general, just how
important would that one two punch be? Well, I think both are extraordinarily
well conditioned, I think, andChris's competitiveness is well renowned in here,
and I think Eric's competitiveness will willstand out as everyone in the room gets
to know him. But both haveshown in the past to be able to
take on massive minutes. I thinkwe want to be cognizant of that as

(11:41):
we go to the regular season.But that you know, Todd Reardon and
Sully will will manage that handle that. But I think it it allows us
to have one of those two playerson the ice for you know, at
least fifty minutes of the game,hopefully a little bit less, but but
you know, and then it's upto us. And then again it speaks
opportunity starre now in the third pairas well, You've got a lot of

(12:01):
young guys there. Somebody has tocome in and take it and run with
it. So um, you know, in terms of the fact that they're
both offensive, I'd love to haveone great left offensive guy in one great
right shot defensive guy or offensive guy, and then and have the the opposite
sort of be on the defensive side. We happen to have two really strong

(12:22):
offensive I would I wouldn't just classby them as offensive. I think they're
they're both great all around defenseman andthen two players and Marcus and Ryan Graves
that that are you know, moreknown for their defensive play on the left.
So it'll give us a chance tosee which is how the pairs fit
best, and and then give theyounger guys below a chance to push as
well. Kyle, something hurt thisteam last year under previous management was maybe

(12:46):
some limited cap flexibility just for somethingsimple as like a recall from Wilkes.
Spare sure, do you feel youhave sufficient flexibility in the event injuries or
absences do happen. Yeah, Sothe way that we've built it out now
is we feel we can carry withthis. I mean, we obviously wanted
we were trying to get to haveit beat twenty three players on the roster,
but we want to always be ableto do twenty two. And then

(13:07):
also we're not going to be afraidto use waivers to get our get flexibility
or lose guys on. I've neveroperated that way, and you know,
sometimes it's you never know, ifyou know you're think you have this fear
that if you put a guy onway, he's gonna go else where,
He's going to be great. Ifyou're at that point where you're unsure,
We'll just put them on and itwill wish them off. They go and
show us that they're better elsewhere thatwe'll be happy for them. But we

(13:28):
I think with us we need tocontied to have that competition, especially with
the number of players that are there. We don't want to box ourselves in
the way that we haven't mapped out. Now we have room for twenty two
to start on opening night. Ofcourse, things will happen in camp that
will change all of that one wayor the other. You never know what's
going to happen. But as wesit today, that's the way we look
at it. So one extra done extra forward, and you know we'll

(13:50):
go with the best thirteen seven andtwo out of camp. And Kyle,
one of the other things that happenedlast week is you took on the role
of general manager. How did youget to that decision and how do you
envision I guess the system of checksand balance is working. Um well.
This process in the Carlson trade probablyaffirmed to me, not anything with myself,

(14:11):
but with what we have in thegroup in the office, just in
terms of the creativity and the amountof the amount of work they want to
put in their capabilities and think youknow, Jason Speza and Vuki Mapofu Fuki
especially, I think through this hehad constant ideas different things that we could
offer and try. It was avery complicated process with San Jose, with

(14:33):
with other teams involved, and Vookicontinually showed me throughout that you know,
I know he's this is this willbe his fourth season in the league,
but you know he's he I thinkshowed during this process but also during free
agency that he's capable of taking ona lot more and was very impressive.
And then Jason, who's been inmanagement and he's just been for a year,

(14:54):
but he's been He was great throughoutand in terms of the checks and
balances, I think, I mean, they could tell you directly if you
have when you have a chance totalk to them. But I want everyone
in our in our front office andin our building to directly call me out,
including everybody in the room, whenyou don't think I'm doing something right
or doing something well. I can, I can. I want to hear

(15:15):
that versus here the opposite. Sothey handle it that way, and then
the way that the ownership group flowslike they you know, it's here's what
I'm thinking. They come right backwith different questions, they want to know
what everyone else is thinking, andthen it's it's been you know, very
open, transparent and worked well.I just feel right now that where I
came to on the general manager sidewas I was weary of with that growth,

(15:39):
even in the progression that I've seenin those others that are in our
own building, bringing another person inand kind of unsettling the group again,
because there's been a lot of thathappened, you know, from April to
now, and I think right nowI have the certainly the energy and I
and I felt comfortable with what Isaw from you know, not only Vouki
and Jason, but also Amanda Kesseland Trevor during agency UH saw Andy Saws

(16:03):
Soocier and Eric Heasley UM and ourgroup there, Tom Kastopolis, Kevin Stevens,
all the people that were around duringthat time. UM, I just
felt like we you know, itmay not it may not have the decades
of experience. UM. You knowthat that that you're you're trying to find
everything. But I felt that wewere in a really good spot and I

(16:23):
didn't want to unsettle it further,and I feel like with what the what
they all bring in my current energylevel and where I'm at, that it
was it was just best to movethe group ahead that way. Kyle,
you pushed hard for a deal forCarlson on July first. Can how regularly
did you stay in touch with theSharks from there? You know, were
there any kind of quiet periods orthere wasn't communication? And then was there

(16:45):
a moment or two where you thoughtsomeone else might swoop in and get the
player? I think you always thinkthat. I don't know, maybe there's
this paranoia that just goes with thisum when it's a good player that you
really want. I think you alwayshave you operate, and I think that's
why you spend a lot of yournights staring up at the ceiling rather than
sleeping. Of different ways you canmake it happen different you know, know

(17:06):
the market, which other teams aregoing to jump in, who can beat
you to it? How can theybeat you to it? How can you
outdo them? And I think that'swhere the staff also jumped in as well
and said, Okay, here's wherewe're at is what is what's important to
San Jose in the short and longrun. What's important to the other teams
that are getting involved. I wouldsay we pushed hardest in the last week
to try to make it all workcan happen. I still think on July

(17:30):
first, I know it was moreof a public thing on July first than
it had been of late, butI actually think that was more like that
was more like the opening rounds ofthe championship fight per se, where it
was feeling each other out, andthen we kind of got into the later
stages here this week. So,Kyle, was it the Canadians inclusion at

(17:52):
the end of that was the turningpoint of this or was there kind of
a tipping point that got this done? Well, there were a few other
There were a few teams involved atthe end. That was the the Jeff
component and and and moving moving Jeffon UM and so there were a few
teams and they all had different prioritiesat this time um and where they were
at. And the part that madeit difficult was that this all happened after

(18:12):
free agencies, so with the capbeing flat, um, you know,
there was very limited cap space forteams, so you're trying to figure out
the all the imaginations and the thesalary components of it that are going to
work. But obviously the Canadians jumpingin, I think it showed, you
know, they're where they're at interms of the quality of their their group
and management. They wanted to jumpin and try to help themselves. Um.

(18:36):
But and and also helped get thisacross the line, so they were
able to accomplish what they wanted toaccomplish. San Jose. You know,
they've got tremendous flexibility and a greatgroup of young players forming there. And
then we're at a different spot thanboth those teams. So I thought it
was something that worked out well foreverybody. Yeah, hey, Kyle,
when you make a move of aCarlson of that magnitude, I don't know
if consults the right word, butdo you talk to any of the Big

(18:59):
three, especially because how this mightimpact his role? Um? You know,
I I'm never looking for approval.I'm looking for um. You know
in Chris's spot, you know you'relooking for Okay, this is what this
is what we're thinking, Chris.Um. You know, here's how we
see it working. And just sowe have an idea for where he's at.

(19:19):
Unsurprisingly, with Chris, it wasvery clearly whatever's going to make us
better and help us win, SoI think that's you know, this process
has also shown me why it wasappealing for me to come here because Sally,
the group of guys that have wonhere altogether, that's all they care
about. They're not worried about theirpower play time, they're not worried about

(19:42):
anything other than than winning and whatever'sgoing to help the team win they want
to do and they'll do. Andthat's not just the roster, it's it's
off the ice, it's everything,and um it was it's been shown through
this process to be everything that everybodysays about them, and you all in
the room have been a around themfar more than I, um and know

(20:02):
them much more personally than I doat this stage, especially where I haven't
been around them every day in theseason. Um. They're tremendous competitors and
they want to win and they backit up with everything that they say and
more importantly, everything that they do. And UM, it's been a lot
of fun so far to to towork with them, and um it's uh,
everything that everyone says about them isone percent true.